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Barton: There's no secret to improving public schools

Georgia Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox gave Savannah Arts Academy students 30 seconds last Wednesday to hoot, holler and otherwise raise the roof over their packed theater.

Forgive them if they budged only a few shingles. But it was early in the morning. Most high school students start the day like an antique clock - it takes them a while to wind up.

Actually, students at the Arts Academy, a magnet public high school where the electives are related to art, music, drama and dance, have plenty of passion. Smarts, too.

That's why Cox stopped at this stately red-brick building on Washington Avenue, where she presented Principal Odessa Richards and her staff with special acknowledgement of the school's selection as a National Blue Ribbon school - an award that the U.S. Department of Education gives to institutions that achieve in the top 10 percent on state tests and have at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Only two Georgia high schools earned the award this year.

"We need to bottle what's happening here and take it all across Georgia," said Cox, a former high school teacher from the Atlanta area. Everyone agrees.

There's no secret formula here.

When students are motivated to learn (here, they must maintain a B average or face transfer), when teachers and staff are dedicated and are expected to get results, and when parents actually show up for teacher conferences and school performances, and do volunteer work and push their children to achieve, good things happen. It's just not happening in enough public schools.

They are, however, occurring in some.

It's inaccurate to condemn the 35,000-student public school system, which too many people in Chatham and surrounding counties like to do. That's like bulldozing a building and leaving perfectly good furniture in some of the rooms.

Take the Arts Academy. It's one of the finest high schools in Georgia (I admit to some bias here - it's where my children attended). Last year, 98 percent of the 11th graders passed the state's end-of-course science test, considered one of the toughest administered, compared to a statewide average of 71 (the school scored perfect 100s in the other three tests). Meanwhile, each member of the graduating Class of '06 earned one of Georgia's HOPE scholarships.

Take Oglethorpe Academy. This public charter middle school, founded in 1999 by dedicated parents, blows out the numbers each year on test scores. And that's despite the fact that it's located in one of the system's dumpiest buildings. But parents aren't seeking comfort here. They want a quality education (without high tuition bills). Success sells. Each year, Oglethorpe is flooded with applications for the 360 or so spaces; the lucky get picked in a lottery.

Other public schools are getting the job done to varying degrees (the International Baccalaureate program at Johnson High School is a fine example). Unfortunately, Savannah-Chatham County has two public school systems - one where students are achieving, and one where too many aren't.

The challenge for Superintendent Thomas Lockamy is to take the principles (maybe the principals, too) that are working and spread them across the district. What are they?

One is that smaller may be better. When students are seen as names and faces instead of numbers or workloads (the Arts Academy has about 600 students), they are less likely to fall through the cracks. I also think it forces bright students to try harder.

Another factor is that good teachers are like good pilots. You can't fly the plane without them. Many, quite naturally, are attracted to higher-achieving schools. This lets them focus on their true love (no, not the pay and benefits). But there must be a way of spreading the instructional wealth.

Finally, parental involvement is critical. Or guardian involvement. Make it mandatory.

I know that most parents work and have busy lives. I also know that a few parents don't give a rip or are lazy, or maybe they do care but are clueless (or incarcerated).

But no adult would let a young child cross Abercorn Extension. The kid might get killed. Yet turning a child loose in the school system for up to 12 years is a kind of killing - of hopes, dreams and the chance for a better life.

It's an honor to be named a Blue Ribbon school. But plaques get dusty. Ribbons fade. What lasts are the students who walk out the door for the real world.

It's no secret what the district must do. And there's no lack of will either. We just need to do a blue-ribbon job of implementing the ways.

Tom Barton is the editorial page editor of the Morning News. His e-mail address is